Life's Good
by Allysphere
Summary: Balancing Oliver's need to protect the people he loves with their right to make their own decisions isn't always easy and compromises must be made.


There was one thing Felicity was a hundred percent, absolutely, come hell and high water, sure. Oliver would do anything in his power to protect the people he loved, no matter the consequences for himself or the pain he had to endure to keep the people he considered family safe. On the one hand, it was one of his best traits and Felicity loved him for it. On the other hand, when he tried protecting her from himself,it was the trait she loathed most, because he tried to make decisions for both of them, not matter how she felt about it. Just like after their first ill fated date. He decided he knew what was best for them, for her, and that was it. There was no arguing after he had made up his mind. Thank God they got over the whole I-can't-be-with-you-and-be-the-Arrow-thing.

Felicity knew that Oliver tried to listen to other people's opinions now, but that also didn't mean that he had stopped making decisions for someone else without consulting them. He had gotten better on their so called summer vacation, thanks to Felicity's frequent usage of her loud voice. There were a lot of things they had a different approach to, but somehow they managed to find a common ground for all of them, save one.

She had always suspected that Oliver suffered from nightmares and undiagnosed PTSD and their vacation just proved that she was right. The first few nights they were still caught up in the 'are-we-really-doing-this' and 'holy-hell-why-didn't-we-do-this-sooner'-feeling and mostly they collapsed into bed with just enough energy to get under the blankets. Of course it was too good to last.

After they found their groove of finally being a couple, in a committed relationship, together, on the road, without Team Arrow obligations, their past caught up with them.

It started harmless enough. In the middle of the night Oliver started mumbling in his sleep. Although Felicity had always considered herself not to be a very light sleeper, she woke immediately. From there on it got worse. Some time ago Felicity had done her research on PTSD and nightmares, not knowing if she ever got herself into a situation with a certain someone where she might need a specific coping strategy, but wanting to inform herself nevertheless. And now she was thankful for it as she watched Oliver's mumbling become louder and more frantic.

She knew better than to touch and try to wake him. No good had ever come from that in the stories she had read. Instead she got out of bed, hastily putting on the shirt lying on the floor and with that safe distance she had started talking to Oliver in soothing tones. It took some time for him to react to her attempts of calming him down and he woke up.

What followed was their first fight in which Felicity had to use her loud voice to get him to listen to her. He had insisted on not sharing a bed with her anymore and instead had taken their spare pillow and blanket to sleep on the couch. Felicity wouldn't be Felicity if she just went along with it. Not anymore. The times were Oliver could just make decisions for both of them were over.

The argument that followed wasn't pretty, but they found a common ground. Felicity promised not to try to wake Oliver, after he had told her what nearly happened to his mother, when he had just come back from the island. In turn Oliver promised to always come back to her.

Which brought us back to where we had started. To Oliver's need to protect his family. Even from himself. The time after they had come back from their vacation was hard on both of them. They needed to adjust to the changed circumstances in Star City. The city's sudden name change was the easy to deal with. The changes within the former Team Arrow weren't. Felicity saw how Oliver struggled with the changed dynamics and their newfound concept of a democracy. Whereas those changes didn't bother Felicity too much, she had her own obstacles to overcome. Namely the board of directors at Palmer Tech. Who knew that being the boss could be so exhausting.

Somehow they made it through all of that. And despite what the public might have thought of their newest CEO and the former playboy-turned-island-survivor-turned-mayor-of-Star-City, they made it. In the end, they got married and had a baby.

A baby, which was very much wanted and very much planned, thank you very much, Bethany Snow from Channel 52. If they had waited with having kids until everything calmed down, they would be old and gray before even considering having them. People grew with their responsibilities. At least that's what Felicity told herself. Otherwise she would freak herself out. But she had to admit to herself, so far, they had done great. Never mind that their little baby girl was only two weeks old. It was the little things that counted. And so far they hadn't dropped her. It was a win in Felicity's books. Fist pump included.

Of course not everything was smooth sailing, despite their best efforts. It had started easy enough. Everyone was ecstatic to know that there was a new Queen on the way. Team Arrow delighted in teasing Oliver about karma coming back to kick his ass, when they discovered they were having a girl. Thea didn't waste a single second before getting in shopping mode, and Diggle didn't hesitate to share his fatherly wisdom with Oliver. Approval rates for Star City's mayor rose, the crime rate was manageable and Felicity delighted in having Oliver wait on her hand and foot. All in all, it couldn't have been better.

Until Lyla started talking about the benefits of co-sleeping. One look at Oliver and Felicity knew no matter what benefits it would have, there would be no co-sleeping in their future. Sometimes, after a particular bad nightmare, she would count her lucky stars when Oliver even came back to bed on his own without needing to be convinced that they would be fine and he wouldn't hurt her. Sure, his nightmares had gotten better over time, but every now and then, they still caught him unawares.

When they got home that night, Oliver didn't waste a single seconds to let her know just how out of the question co-sleeping was for him. And how could Felicity argue with him, when she saw the self doubt in his stance, the way his shoulders hunched and he started questioning his abilities to keep his little family safe again. "I know I couldn't live with myself if I hurt one of you when we could have prevented it."

Now, two weeks after taking little Elisa home from the hospital, in the car seat that looked much to big for her tiny little body, they had slowly but surely settled into a routine and any doubts anybody could have ever had about Oliver's skills as a father could be laid to a rest. (Although it surely would take some more time for him to come to the same conclusion. He was good at finding his own faults, but really bad at seeing his qualities. Nothing new there.)

Very early into her pregnancy, probably right around the stage were Felicity wanted to shoo Oliver out of the bathroom while she brought her breakfast back to the surface day after day and Oliver couldn't be convinced to leave her alone in her misery, but insisted on holding back her hair, he also made it quite clear that he would be there for everything. And so far he had stayed true to his word. Whenever their little baby girl made her displeasure known, he was there in a heartbeat. No matter the time of the night, before Felicity had even had a chance to register what was going on and that it was indeed their helpless little human demanding to nurse, Oliver would already have swept up their daughter to bring her to her mom.

Nursing their baby soon became the couple's favorite part of their day. No matter how late or early in the night, Oliver would cuddle up to both of them and watch over them. But as soon as he saw his girls slowly drifting off to sleep, he would press a kiss to each of their foreheads and either head off to their spare room, to spend the rest of the night there, if little Elisa looked particularly comfy cuddled up to her mom, or take the baby and put her back in her crib. Of course he wouldn't simply leave after that. He made sure to at least stay long enough to make sure that she was out completely. If there was the slightest sign that his daughter - mentally he still freaked out when he was reminded that he was actually somebody's father - would wake up again, he would take her and walk the hallways with her safely tucked into his arms, until she was out.

While Felicity couldn't help but feel sad at the fact that they probably wouldn't spend a single night together in bed, sleeping, as a family, all of that was forgotten when she saw how much Oliver doted on their daughter. It had happened more than once that she got up in the morning to the sight of her husband and her daughter cuddled up together on the couch, more often than not with Elisa asleep and some ball game on in the background with the sound off. Those were the moments she lived for.

Yeah, not everything was sunshine and roses and Felicity was certain that one day down the road when their daughter had hit her teenage years, there would be more than one discussion about boundaries and Oliver's need to keep everybody safe, but for now, Felicity appreciated it.


End file.
